COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee is pushing the county commissioners to join a lawsuit challenging new legislative redistricting.

"They're the ones who have to initiate to sign on. We as a party can't do anything," said Tina Jacobson, central committee chair.

The committee invited all county commissioners to a meeting this week to discuss concern over the redistricting Legislative Plan L 87. The plan was created by the state Commission for Reapportionment, charged with tweaking districts so voters have equal representation under the new census numbers.

The big issue is with the new district 7, Jacobson said, which now includes a chunk of southeastern Kootenai County lumped in with Shoshone, Clearwater and Idaho counties.

The district is hundreds of miles long, Jacobson pointed out, so Kootenai residents will be hours away from their elected representatives.

"For legislators to meet with constituents in person, which a lot of them like to do to understand the issues, they'll have to plan an overnight stay," she said.

Under the new boundaries, the district 7 legislators are Rep. Paul Shepherd, R-Riggins, Rep. Shannon McMillan, R-Silverton, and Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood.

According to the commission report, 5,155 county residents are in district 7.

"How are you going to find your legislator? You can end up with somebody from Grangeville being your legislator," Jacobson said.

The central committee believes the new district violates the state constitution, which requires districts only be split if absolutely necessary.

So the group is encouraging the commissioners to join a lawsuit Twin Falls County is preparing to file against the reapportionment commission, prompted by its own redistricting issues.

"We gave them a lot to think about," Jacobson said of the meeting with the commissioners.

According to the commission's report, district 7's new boundaries provide it with the necessary population to meet voter requirements.

"The commission recognizes that this district is large and not ideal," the report states. "However, it's necessary to meet the one person, one vote requirement and is consistent with other Idaho constitutional and statutory requirements."

Kootenai County Commissioner Dan Green said he understands why folks are upset.

The commissioners are waiting for more information before they discuss the matter, he said.

But redistricting is a challenging task, he pointed out, and someone is always bound to be dissatisfied.

"If we take back those 5,000 into our district here in Kootenai County, that means that potentially district 7 won't have enough residents, so they'll have to adjust somebody else's line," Green said.

Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d'Alene, said she is aware that many are upset over district 7.

"It's impossible for one legislator to cover that whole area and support the constituents the way that some of the rest of us will be able to," she said. "I hope they can find a different method."

McMillan said she is a little anxious about serving all of district 7 from Silverton.

"My son was saying to me today, 'It's closer to go up to Canada than to get to the bottom part of my district," she said with a laugh.

She expects that she and the other district legislators will lean heavily on phone calls and emails to reach constituents, she added.

"I don't know how often I'll be able to go down and visit, with the price of gas," she said. "Or how often they'll be able to come up here."

Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs said his county is planning to file its lawsuit soon contesting the redistricting plan, due to excessive district splitting in the area.

Other counties have approached him about joining, Loebs said. Any who do must have the same kind of issue, he noted.

"We'd like to get it done as soon as possible," he said. "We're very aware that elections are coming up."